Just completed IM #6 at IMOO. Have been training and racing w/PT for last 3 IM. In most of my training/racing, I frequently use the interval mode, which allows for the “average” to be re-set throughout the ride. Seems like a reaosonable way to train/race. Real time watts (which I tried at IMOO) are really “jumpy” and annoying.
What do “others” do with their power…have it set for REAL TIME or AVERAGE when racing?
I usually watch real-time watts, but check average watts from time to time. I’ll use interval mode often for some of the hills around here so I can take a look later to see how I did on those.
Spot
Aren’t the RT watts really “jumpy”? Seems like I can’t take my eyes off the computer!
Geez…is this just a tired old topic or are the 250 people who have read it opionless
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I watch real time watts with a 5 sec average on it.
jaretj
I look at both. For my avg I take out the zero so its close to my PNorm. I like to look at real time watts on hills or low traffic straight roads so I can practice steadying out my effort.
With the powertap headunit you can set a ‘smoothing’ value, so that the ‘real-time’ power is actually a rolling average of the last X seconds. I think I left mine set at 4 or 5 seconds, and that kept it from being very ‘jumpy’. It smooths out large spikes if you have a very short spike, so you could miss those, but for an IM bike leg you probably don’t have to worry about that.
-Chris
always real,too hard to move the average after a while and trying to would be a disaster. They are jumpy for sure, if you have been training with power for years I would think you would be used to it. I know what they look like as compared to what they look like when I download.
What I have done, is re-set interval mode “a lot”…this way I start a new average. After a big downhill, I hit interval and have only used average. What I haven’t used is the real time wattage…